I was confused by the confusion of the man answering the phone at Farrington Park when I rang to book a table. After all, that’s what the website advises you to do. He sounded baffled by my request and left me hanging on the phone for a while, I guess to check out with the manager whether that was OK, before confirming that yes, I could have a table.

Upon our arrival on a beautiful summer’s evening, his confusion became obvious: the restaurant and bar is a very casual affair and I can’t imagine anyone else bothered to book.

Farrington Park is a golf club, situated on the top of a hill in a lovely spot south of Bath.

The restaurant itself has an attractive terrace where the golfers kick back and relax while looking out over the pristine green course.

It’s not at all snobby and welcomes non-golfers too – of which I am most emphatically one.

The menu is classic pub grub with a selection of salads, baguettes, ploughman’s, burgers and grills. You can also choose starters including nachos, pate, soup or haddock goujons.

We decided to go straight for the main course, and my friend chose fish and chips; while I went a bit more retro and ordered scampi and chips. The food took a while to arrive: as the website says it’s all prepared fresh to order.

It was worth the wait though, as we were both presented with impressive plates of food. My friend’s portion was generous and she enjoyed the crispy batter and flaky fish. I got just the right amount of breaded scampi which was delicious and we both loved the chunky chips. They were perfectly cooked.

For dessert we went for three scoops of ice cream each. You can choose the flavours and we both opted for a mix of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. I was struggling a bit towards the end as I felt so full, but it tasted so delicious I was loathe to leave it.

As far as golf goes, I share Mark Twain’s opinion that it’s a good walk spoiled. However, both the service and food at Farrington Park is excellent and with reasonable prices, I’ll just concentrate on eating rather than golfing.

* Food served from from 11am Mon-Fri, until 3pm on Mon and Tue, 9pm Wed-Sat. Opens 9am Sat and 10am-5pm Sun.
* Large car park.
* Disabled access.